Liquid package and process for producing the same



1968 D. H. ELLERBROCK ETAL 3,381,594

LIQUID PACKAGE AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING THE SAME Original Filed Dec. 4, 1961- FIE. l

INVENTORS Jinan: J," 64:81:42:

Deal/4w ll Ezra-atom Jams; D. Beams) BY M Armmvn United States Patent 3,381,594 LIQUID PACKAGE AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING THE SAME Donald H. Ellerbrock and Jerome J. Galbierz, St. Louis,

Mo., and James D. Beckley, Kansas City, Kans., assignors to R-C Can Company, Hazelwood, Mm, a corporation of Missouri Continuation of application Ser. No. 156,886, Dec. 4, 1961. This application May 27, 1965, Ser. No. 459,347

13 Claims. (Cl. 93-391) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The disclosure relates to a container for liquids such as motor oil and the like and having a cylindrical body wall made from helically wound layers of material with the edges abutted to form a spiral butt joint and having a metal end closure on each end thereof provided with a depressed center portion which defines an annular wall the outer circumference thereof being slightly larger than the inside circumference of the tubular body to displace the same outwardly when forcibly inserted therein and being connected to said body by a double locked seam construction to provide a liquid-tight container. In the form disclosed the butt joint is filled with a plastic filler material particularly designed to provide a continuous peripheral marginal end portion at each end of the tubular body capable of being flared outwardly and peripherally stretched sufiiciently to form a double locked seam without interruption or breaking of the continuity of said body wall end portion. The invention also relates to the process for producing such a container which includes the flaring out of the end portions of the spirally wound laminated body wall to facilitate initial insertion of the enlarged metal end portion and produce the double locked seam between each metal end and the end portion of the body wall.

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 156,886, filed Dec. 4, 1961.

The problem of providing a package which includes a liquid such as oil or the like confined within a fibrous paper-bodied container or can has been the subject of a great deal of research and development for many years in the fibre can industry. A number of different possible solutions are available for providing a liquid-proof liner for the fibre body; however, in addition to this, it has been a previously unsolved problem to provide a fibrous container body having sufiicient strength and durability to withstand the fluid pressures incurred by impact during shipping and storage while being adapted to stretch sufficiently during forming the ends thereof to permit an interlocking crimp to be formed with the metal end which is seamed thereon.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a package including liquid confined within a container having a fibrous paper body having metal end closures crimped in interlocking relation to the respective ends of the body which will produce a package of substantially the same strength and durability as the metal can packages conventionally used for this purpose but which are considerably more expensive. 1

More specifically, it is an object to provide such a package wherein the end portions of the fibrous body of the container are deformed by being initially flared outwardly and subsequently subjected to suflicient longitudinal pressure during the crimping operation to form an interlocked seam where the complete circumferential edge at each end of the container is doubled back on the container edge portion with the outer peripheral edge of the metal end being formed therearound and interposed between said ice doubled back portion and the adjacent side wall portion of the container.

It is still a further object to provide a container for liquids which has a generally cylindrical body formed of spirally wound fibrous paper strip material with the longitudinal edges thereof abutted in substantially edge-toedge relation and wherein the end portions are initially deformed outwardly and are thereafter subjected to axially directed end pressure to produce deformation of the end portions of the body material into doubled-back relation upon itself with the peripheral edge of the metal end interlocked therewith.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will more fully appear from the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to the same or similar parts throughout the views, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the package ernbodying our invention with an upper portion thereof broken away but not showing in detail the body wall laminations;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view thereof drawn to a somewhat larger scale than FIG. 1 with a portion of the liner broken away but in which the detail of the side wall laminations are not shown;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view' showing the outwardly flared end portion prior to attachment of the metal end but showing the detail of the side wall laminations;

FIG. 4 is a similar view to FIG. 3 showing the metal end partially crimped thereon but before completion of the crimping operation;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line 55 of FIG. 1 and showing the structure illustrated in FIG. 4 after completion of the crimping operation and drawn to a somewhat larger scale;

FIG. 6 is a detailed fragmentary sectional view show ing the side wall laminations and the interior lap of the liner; and

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along the line 77 of FIG. 2 and showing the butt joint of the inner ply of body stock and the liner material applied thereto.

The package illustrated in FIG. 1 includes a container C which has a generally cylindrical side wall which, in the form shown, is made from a plurality of helically wound layers of strip material. The intermediate layers of the body respectively designated by the numerals 1t) and 11 in the form shown consist in a pair of fibrous paper strips helically wound. The longitudinal edges of the helix formed by each of the body layers 10 and 11 are in substantially side-by-side abutted relation so that this portion of the side wall of the container is of substantially uniform thickness throughout its entire circumference. These two layers are adhesively connected together and the spiral butt joints thereof are out of register to provide the necessary strength for the side wall.

The inner surface of the inner body layer 11 has a layer of liner material 12 applied thereto. This layer of liner material 12 may consist in a strip of helically wound foil or plastic with the adjacent edges thereof overlapped and sealingly adhesively glued together to provide a liquid impervious surface to isolate the liquid confined within the container from the fibrous body layers 10 and 11. Suitable foil-to-foil adhesives may be applied such as the hot melt resin No. 8305' manufactured by The Dewey & Almy Co., Cambridge, Mass, or the Thermoplastic Vinyl heat seal lacquer No. C201 manufactured by the Mileti Company of Louisville, Ky. A suitable foil-to-body adhesive is, of course, used to securely adhere the liner 12 to the inner surface of the inner body layer 11. The above a) adhesives work satisfactorily for this purpose as do a number of other adhesives.

In order to prevent the moisture from the atmosphere from penetrating the outer layer 10, an outer moistureimpervious layer 23 is applied thereto. This may also consist in a foil strip adhered to the outer surface of the layer as by the previously identified adhesive with the adjacent marginal edge portions thereof overlapped and adhesively connected together to positively seal out moisture from the inner body layers.

The helically wound inner body layers 10 and 11 are designed to provide the necessary strength for the body wall with the layers 12 and 13 providing the sealing characteristics necessary to prevent moisture from the liquid confined within the container as well as moisture vapor in the air from reaching the strength-producing layers 10 and 11.

After the container body has been wound on a mandrel in the conventional manner, one end is securely crimped or seamed thereon. For this purpose, metal ends have been found to be the most satisfactory, preferably light gauge sheet steel or aluminum. The metal ends 15 illustrated in the accompanying drawing having the depressed central portion 15a and raised peripheral portion 15b have been found to be the best for this purpose. The outer diameter of the depressed central portion 15a forms an annular wall which is larger than the inside diameter of the container wall by an amount suflicient to press the engaged portion of the container wall outwardly as best shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. A sealant 16 best shown in FIG. 3 may be applied to the ends of the container to form a positive seal when engaged with the metal of the respective end 15. In order that the enlarged depressed central portion 15a of each metal end can be easily forced into the end portion of the container wall, we have found that it is necessary to flare the end of the container outwardly, as best illustrated in FIG. 3.

In order to produce the interlocked seam or crimp illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, it is necessary that the amount which these end portions of the body are flared outwardly is greater than the degree of flaring produced in the copending application, Ser. No. 103,096. In order to produce the interlock seam illustrated, the ends of the container must be deformed radially outwardly as indicated at A in FIG. 3, at least .035 inch when using a combined thickness of body layers It? and 11 of approximately .030 to .040 inch. After the body ends have been flared outwardly, one of the metal ends is pressed into one of the flared body ends and sufficient axially directed force is applied to the ends to combine with the enlarged depressed central portion of the metal end to cause the end portion of the body to be deformed outwardly within the peripheral groove around the depressed portion 15a formed by the raised portion 15b of the end. As lateral pressure is then applied to the peripheral portion of the end by the crimping rolls, the outer peripheral edge 150 is forced around and under outwardly flared marginal edge portion of the body end and the inner edge of the metal end 15 is interposed between the outer marginal edge portion of the container body and the adjacent portion of the container side wall, as best shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. After the crimping rollers have rolled the outer peripheral edge of the metal end around the outer marginal edge portion of the outwa-rdly flared and deformed container wall, the seaming or crimping rollers tightly clamp the interlocked portions of the wall together to compress the fibrous body material, as best shown in FIG. 5.

It will be apparent that the butt joint formed by adjacent helical edges of the inner ply and indicated by the numeral 18 in FIGS. 2 and 7 will produce an inherent spiral weakness line extending helically the full length of the container. This is particularly true since there will be some degree of separation between the edges of the strip of body stock during the winding operation. This weakness is magnified by the outward flaring of the ends of the body wall since this expansion of the circumference of the end extremities of the container will produce a much greater separation than would be present if the container ends were not outwardly flared. In order to strengthen the butt joint 18, particularly with respect to the inner ply, we have discovered that an application of a filter material to the helical edges adjacent the butt point which, during the time of application, is sufficiently plastic to flow into and fill up completely any space between said edges, will materially increase the strength of the side wall both longitudinally and laterally, as well as produce a continuous edge portion which can be sealed by the interlocking crimp of the metal end when the same is seamed onto the con tainer wall. A suitable material which embodies the desired characteristics is a product put out by the Chemical Division of General Mills, Inc., at Kankakee, 111., known as Versamid. Another product which has produced satisfactory results is manufactured by Arabal Mfg. Co. of Chicago, Ill., and is identified as No. R81C and is referred to as a polyamide resin. The essential properties of such a filler material are that it will harden quickly after first flowing into the open areas of the butt joint and yet will retain a suflicient degree of elasticity to seal the critical area of the butt joint between the liner and the inner ply 11 to prevent seepage of liquid at the crimp. Both of the above materials are referred to in the trade as hot melt resins which are applied hot and which harden to the desired semi-solid state upon cooling. A ribbon 19 of such material may be satisfactorily applied to the outer surface of the liner 12 in registration with the butt joint ultimately formed by the helical winding of the inned ply 11 therearound.

When the inner ply 11 is wound around the liner material, the tension on the strip forming ply 11 will cause the filler material to not only fill any spaces between the edges of the ply 11 but will also cause the material to be forced through any such spaces in the butt joint and the material will then spread out when engaged by the outer ply 10 surrounding the inner ply 11, thus forming in cross section a generally H-shaped hardened plastic reinforcing material as best shown in FIG. 7. The outer portion of the material squeezed out through the space in the butt joint into the area between the outer ply 10 and the inner ply 11 is indicated at 20 and the applied ribbon 19 is also shown in FIG. 7 as well as FIG. 2.

After one metal end has been applied as described above, the container is filled with liquid in any conventional manner and the other end is seamed on in exactly the same manner as that previously described.

The container described herein has been found to be suitable for confining liquids such as oils, paints and other liquid products.

It will be seen that we have provided a package including a liquid confined within a helically wound fibrous body-walled container having interlocked metal ends applied thereto.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportion of parts without departing from the scope of our invention, which generally stated consists in the matter set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A liquid package with liquid confined therein comprising, a generally cylindrical helically formed fibrous paper body having a liner applied to the inside surface thereof to form a liquid-proof seal, the ends of said body being flared outwardly, a pair of metal ends each having a depressed portion forming an annular wall with the outside diameter of each of said depressed wall portions being slightly greater than the inside diameter of the container, the flared-out end portions being doubled back and the ends crimped therearound with the doubled back portion interlocked with said crimp to securely seal and positively lock the metal ends on the laminated fibrous body.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1 and a plastic sealant applied to the peripheral end portions of the fibrous body to produce a positive seal when engaged with the interlocking crimp of the metal end.

3. A liquid package including liquid therewithin and including a generally cylindrical container made from helically wound paper strips with adjacent helical edges abutted in edge-to-edge relation, a pair of metal ends crimped to the end portions of the body with sufficient end pressure being applied during the crimping operation to cause the ends of the body to be flared outwardly and downwardly to interlock with the rolled-under portion of the crimp and ultimately produce a positively interlocked sealed connection around the entire periphery thereof, a hot melt resin sealer material applied to at least one of the helically abutted edge portions to flow into and completely fill the space between the butt edges and cooling sufiiciently quickly to seal the butt joint and to provide additional stiffness both laterally and longitudinally to the butt area of the side wall to withstand the lateral and longitudinal pressure produced during manufacturing, filling, storage and handling.

4. The process for producing a container for liquid products consisting in helically winding a generally cylindrical fibrous body from elongated strips of material, lining the inside of said body with liquid-impervious material, flaring the end portions of the body outwardly, inserting a metal end having a recessed portion forming an annular wall of slightly larger diameter than the inside diameter of the cylindrical body portion into one of said flared ends, applying suflicient end pressure to cause the flared end portions to be deformed outwardly in engagement with the adjacent metal end surface, and thereafter applying lateral crimping pressure on the metal end to cause interlocking of the outwardly flared body wall with the double back crimp to the metal end.

5. A container for liquid products comprising a plurality of helically wound layers, including an inner fibrous body layer with adjacent edges thereof forming a helical butt joint, a sealer material applied to the butt joint in a sufficiently plastic state to fill the same when layers are applied to the inside and outside of said inner body layer, but hardening to produce a continuous body wall, said material being sufficiently elastic upon hardening to permit deformation during the seaming of the ends onto the container, a liquid impervious liner layer adhesively attached to the inside of said body layer and at least one outer layer applied to the outside of said body layer, and a pair of metal ends sealingly crimped to the ends of said body wall to permit a liquid to be confined therewithin.

6. The method of producing a container for liquid products consisting in helically winding a generally cylindrical fibrous body from elongated strips of material, lining the inside of said body with liquid impervious material, filling at least the innermost butt joint of the helically wound strips of material with a filler and sealer material to reinforce said butt joint and provide a continuous edge at the ends of the container body, flaring the outer end portions of the body outwardly, inserting a metal end having a recessed portion forming an annular wall slightly larger in diameter than the inside diameter of the central body portion into one of said flared ends, applying sufficient end pressure to cause the flared end portions to be deformed outwardly in engagement with the adjacent metal end surface, and thereafter applying lateral crimping pressure on the metal end to cause interlocking of the outwardly flared body wall with the double back crimp to the metal end, said filler and sealer material permitting a continuous seal to be formed around the entire body end of the container when the metal end is crimped thereon.

7. A container comprising a hollow body of stiff yet compressible material, a closure seamed onto one end of said body, the body at said end having a doubled back portion, said closure having a depressed portion forming an annular upstanding wall with an outwardly disposed annular seam-forming portion disposed outwardly of the Wall and surrounding the adjacent marginal end portion of the body, the exterior dimensions of said wall being slightly greater than the interior dimensions of the body to forcibly enlarge the circumference of the engaged inner wall surface and project the same outwardly, the outwardly disposed seam-forming portion of said closure enclosing the doubled back portion of the body to interlock the same with the closure scam, the end portion of the body disposed between the upstanding wall and the outwardly disposed seam-forming portion of the closure being compressed and substantially reduced in thickness by the annular compressive force produced thereon by the seaming operation, and means for closing the other end of said body.

8. The structure as set forth in claim 7 and said hollow body being made from helically wound strip material with the adjacent edges thereof disposed in side by side relation to form a helical butt joint, a sealing and filling material applied to the marginal edge portions of the strip adjacent said butt joint to fill said joint and provide a continuous unbroken body wall, said filler and sealer material being sufliciently elastic upon opening to permit deformation thereof during the seaming of the ends onto the container.

9. A container for non-pressurized liquid comprising a helically formed fibrous paper body having liquid proof liner material applied to the inside surface thereof to form a liquid tight body Wall, at least one metal end closure having an outer circumferential clamping portion and a preformed depressed portion forming an annular upstanding wall the outside diameter of which is slightly greater than the nominal inside diameter of the body wall, the end of the body wall having a deformed outwardly flared body section to receive in centered relation the enlarged wall portion of the end closure, the inner circumferential edge of the enlarged wall portion of said metal end having a pressed fit sealed relation with the body at the inner end of said flared section, the outer portion of the flared section being doubled back in interlocked relation with the outer circumferential clamping portion of the metal end, said clamping portion being tightly clamped around said doubled back flared section to compress the same and the circumferential body wall portion surrounded thereby and combined therewith to provide a liquid-tight double locked seam at one end of the body and means for closing the other end of said body.

10. A liquid package comprising a container with nonpressurized liquid contained therein, said container comprising a helically formed fibrous paper body having liquid proof liner material applied to the inside surface thereof to form a liquid-tight body wall, a pair of metal end closures each having a depressed portion forming an annular wall with the outside diameter of each wall portion being slightly greater than the inside diameter of the container, the end portions of the body being flared outwardly a sufficient distance to permit not only insertion of the larger wall portions of the metal ends but also to produce a double locked seam whereby the flared-out portions are doubled back upon themselves with the outer peripheral portion of the respective metal ends being interposed between the doubled back portions and the adjacent body wall and said ends being tightly clamped thereon to positively interlock with the body in sealed liquid-tight relation thereto.

11. The method of making fibre bodied containers for non-pressurized liquids, consisting in providing a plurality of elongated strips of material, at least one of which is fibrous paper, helically winding said strips into a multiple layer tube, adhering said strips together, the inner strip being impervious to liquid to provide a liquid proof inner surface, flaring the ends of the tube, providing a pair of metal end closures each having a depressed portion forming an annular upstanding wall of larger diameter than the tube but smaller than the diameter at the extremities of the flared ends of the tube, inserting the enlarged wall portions of the metal end closures into the respective flared ends of the tube, applying sufficient axial pressure to produce a pressed fit of the wall portions into the ends of the tube and causing the outer portions of the flared ends to double back and form a double locked seam with the metal end closures and clamping the outer portions of the metal end closures against the doubled back portions of the flared ends to form a liquid-tight seam at each end of the tube.

12. A container comprising a generally cylindrical helically wound hollow body of stilt yet compressible fibrous material with the adjacent edges thereof disposed in side by side relation to form a helical butt joint, sealing and filling material applied to the butt joint in a sufliciently plastic state to fill the same when the body is wound by hardening to produce a circumferentially continuous unitary body wall section, said sealing material being sufficiently elastic upon hardening to permit deformation dur- 8 ing the crimping of the metal ends onto the fibrous body and a metal end closure seamed onto each end of said cylindrical body.

13. A container as claimed in claim 12 wherein said sealing and filling material constitutes a hot melt resin.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,301,840 4/1919 Hawkins 229-4.5 2,130,576 9/1938 Annen et a1. 229-5.6 2,131,343 9/1938 Cordiano et al 229-45 2,146,861 2/1939 Sherwood et al. 229-5.6 2,633,095 3/1953 Magill et a1 93-391 2,868,043 5/1959 Reid 229-45 2,986,319 5/1961 Bierman et al 229-5.6 3,018,212 1/1962 Chinn 93-80 3,126,306 3/1964 Sherman 93-80 GERALD A. DOST, Primary Examiner. 

